As known, there are two basic types of lotteries that are most commonly played, these being instant win or scratch off lottery games and on-line games. The instant win type of games provide a scratch-off ticket that enables the player to scratch off a masked area overlying imaged and predetermined game data on the ticket to immediately reveal the game result and prize. On-line lotteries permit lottery players to select, or have selected for them, a series of numbers such that the ticket is a winner if all or certain number combinations match all or at least a predetermined number of the numbers or game indicia selected during the lottery drawing.
The instant win lottery games remain popular, and have seen increased demand due to the number and variety of instant win lottery games now available for play. Instant win games have traditionally been dispensed by a sales clerk grasping a portion of a leading ticket extended from a manual ticket dispenser, pulling the desired number of tickets therefrom, and then bending and tearing the tickets to be purchased along a perforation line to separate the tickets from the remainder of the ticket book or pack. This can take a significant amount of time, especially over the course of a sales shift, and may also lead to errors in handling and charging for the tickets as well as being a distraction to the sales clerk's performance of their other duties at the retail establishment in which they are employed, which is typically a convenience type of store. In response to this need for a simpler and more efficient means for dispensing instant win tickets, the dispensing devices of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,669,071, 6,609,644, and 5,950,898, respectively, were developed.
Although the dispensing devices of these patents represented a significant advance in the art, there remains a need for a simple ticket dispensing device offering increased manufacturing efficiencies and cost reductions, coupled with the ease of use and reliability of the aforementioned dispensing devices.